BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--AUTHOR KRIS PEARSON HAS YOUR LAST MINUTE GIFT-GIVING COVERED

Is there someone on your holiday gift you forgot about? Do you need a last-minute gift for an office gift exchange? Kris Pearson has your back. Kris is the author of eighteen romances and two cozy mysteries, and she returns today with an great idea for the romance readers on your gift list. Learn more about Kris and her books at her website. 

A Very Crafty Last-minute Gift

No glitter, twine or beads needed – simply two minutes of your time and 99 cents US.

Here’s an easy and different idea for a ‘little extra’ for your special people. If you have friends or family members who are keen readers, give them an Amazon online gift voucher for this e-book anthology of eleven Christmas-themed novellas. Your gift can be bought right up until Christmas Eve and it’ll still arrive on time. No postage required!

Romancing the Holidays 2019 follows on from the 2018 edition by some of the same writers. It’s a collection of romantic stories from award-winning southern hemisphere authors. Each story is a third to a half the length of a novel. Each is guaranteed to be a warm read with no explicit details. Aunt Elsie will not be offended.

The authors are friends online, but many have never met face-to-face. They’ve really enjoyed making each offering distinctly different for you, choosing the cover photo, and sharing the jobs of promoting the collection to the world. A little money and a lot of effort from each of them means the whole is a lot bigger than the sum of the parts. 

Romancing the Holidays 4

Sunny with a Chance of Romance by Susanne Bellamy 

Journalist Charli Jones is close to cracking the biggest financial news story of the year when her boss tasks her with fulfilling a boozy bet for him: she must bring a champion surfer to the media awards night. 

Her former neighbor, Damian Bartholomew—her best friend’s older brother and Charli’s secret teenage crush—fits the bill in more ways than one. But Damian is hiding a big secret, and Charli finds herself embroiled in a shocking conflict of interest.  

A Christmas Twist by Kris Pearson 

The Bennett twins spell double trouble for Gabriella Clifton, and a year of study in London with the handsome brothers ends with souvenirs she never expected.

More than twenty years later, home in New Zealand, a surprise visit from Donny Bennett turns her world upside down. Can she guard her heart against his unrelenting charm offensive?

As the Christmas sun shines down on the big old house by the sea, Gabi must decide the shape of her future.

A Second Chance for Christmas by Anne Kemp 

Ellie Briggs and Nick Harrington went their separate ways when her career pulled her in a different direction to his. Now she’s a social media diva in New York, while he stayed on the Caribbean Island of St. Kitts to build his life. With Ellie’s current relationship crumbling, she heads to St Kitts for Christmas. She plans to catch up with old friends - but might luck re-unite her with Nick, the love of her life? Will a sprinkle of holiday magic be enough, or will they need a true Christmas miracle?

Christmas with the Boss by Annie Seaton  

What’s Christmas without a sexy surfer boss, a mysterious visitor, and things that go bump in the night?

Jilly Henderson was looking forward to her Christmas break. A week of bliss at the beach—alone, no work and no one to bother her. But her boss turns up, and he’s ditched the suit and turned into a gorgeous surf god. Can Jilly resist Dominic...and the secret visitor who won't leave her in peace?

A Very Aussie Christmas by Ebony McKenna 

Australian teenager RayChill is a Christmas Grinch. The mood at home is strained. She blames her dad for a lot that’s wrong in her life, including the crazy spelling of her name. It’s hot, and the air-con is on the blink, so she’s much happier working overnight on Christmas Eve at the warehouse. What good luck Jonno, the cute American she’s crushing on, is the only co-worker to turn up to shift.

It’s going to be a challenge keeping her mind on the job when it’s just the two of them and he’s so distracting. 

Plus stories by:

Shirley Wine 

Sofia Grey 

Susan Downham

Ashley Logan

Gudrun Frerichs

Monique McDonell.

Buy Link  

Just click on ‘Give as a gift’, fill in your recipient’s email address, write a quick greeting, and you’re done. Giving was never so easy.

CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--STENCILED SNOWFLAKE HOT DISH TRIVETS

Hot snowflakes? Oxymorons aside, that’s what you’ll have when you stencil snowflakes onto cork trivets. And this craft is so quick and easy that you can whip up a few in no time for that spur-of-the-moment holiday get-together.
Materials:
8” x 10” plastic stencil sheet
permanent ink marker
X-acto knife with new blade
repositionable adhesive
7” round cork trivets
stencil paint in your choice of color(s)
stencil brush
clear satin acrylic spray

1. Enlarge the snowflake pattern to 6”. Tape to underside of plastic stencil sheet. Using permanent ink marker, trace pattern onto stencil sheet.

2. Carefully cut out snowflake. If you make a mistake while cutting, you can repair the stencil plastic with tape and recut. When you’re finished you’ll have two stencils, one a positive image of the snowflake and one a negative image.

3.  Apply repositionable adhesive to the back of the stencils. Allow to dry.

4. Place stencil centered over cork trivet.

5.  To stencil, dip the tip of the stencil brush into the stencil paint. Remove excess paint by tapping the brush onto a folded paper towel. Hold the brush perpendicular to the stencil and dab the brush in an up and down motion over the cutout edges of the negative snowflake stencil and around the cut edges of the positive snowflake stencil.

6. When stenciling is complete, carefully lift the stencil from cork. Allow the paint to dry 24 hours.

7. Spray surface of stenciled cork with two coats of clear satin acrylic.

Tie together a set of two, one positive image and one negative image, with natural raffia to give as a hostess gift whenever you’re invited for dinner or to a party throughout the winter. Everyone always needs a couple of extra trivets, right?

Do you have any quick and easy projects up your sleeve? Let’s hear from you. We have a very crafty giveaway this week from our special Book Club Friday guest author. Leave a comment to be entered in the drawing. -- AP